What to Do with Little Mortifications at Work...and Beyond
Mortifications stick us like little pins throughout the work day. While most people want to avoid even the slightest discomfort, a Catholic understands how these pin pricks can serve to refresh and enrich our spiritual lives. Here's how it goes.
Maybe it starts with our commute, slower than usual this morning. Maybe this morning's gray with drizzling rain, rather than the bright sun and blue skies we prefer. It continues as we arrive for one of those meetings first thing in the morning where one of the big shots spews hot air, opining about why revenue lags projections and how we need to...blah, blah, blah. (C'mon, can't you speed it up!) And, what's this, the computer network is down and Bill called in sick - the one guy with the math and tech skills you need to finish your spreadsheet for that big presentation.
And on and on it goes.
Fortunately all these little pricks and prods don't usually cluster together like this. But come they do, usually in dribs and drabs, day after day.
It continues. You get home to find that the sink backed up, the dog gnawed on your favorite pair of shoes, the baby's got a fever, and you forgot to pick up the milk.
Your blood begins to boil, frustration, even anger sets in. Why is this happening to me? Then embarrassment: With all the troubles in the world, I'm getting all bent out of shape by what are really little annoyances?
Will I ever just grow up and be the man I should be, strong, patient, kind, loving...?
To the rescue: your Catholic Faith. Mortifications throughout the day serve to temper us, to help us grow stronger in our Faith, to bring us closer, step by step to God. You know what to do: offer it up - those little three words we hear too seldom these days.
Here's a little poem to remind and refresh your "offer it up" batteries:
Maybe it starts with our commute, slower than usual this morning. Maybe this morning's gray with drizzling rain, rather than the bright sun and blue skies we prefer. It continues as we arrive for one of those meetings first thing in the morning where one of the big shots spews hot air, opining about why revenue lags projections and how we need to...blah, blah, blah. (C'mon, can't you speed it up!) And, what's this, the computer network is down and Bill called in sick - the one guy with the math and tech skills you need to finish your spreadsheet for that big presentation.
And on and on it goes.
Fortunately all these little pricks and prods don't usually cluster together like this. But come they do, usually in dribs and drabs, day after day.
It continues. You get home to find that the sink backed up, the dog gnawed on your favorite pair of shoes, the baby's got a fever, and you forgot to pick up the milk.
Your blood begins to boil, frustration, even anger sets in. Why is this happening to me? Then embarrassment: With all the troubles in the world, I'm getting all bent out of shape by what are really little annoyances?
Will I ever just grow up and be the man I should be, strong, patient, kind, loving...?
To the rescue: your Catholic Faith. Mortifications throughout the day serve to temper us, to help us grow stronger in our Faith, to bring us closer, step by step to God. You know what to do: offer it up - those little three words we hear too seldom these days.
Here's a little poem to remind and refresh your "offer it up" batteries:
Splinters from the Cross
Little headaches, little heartaches,
Little griefs of every day,
Little trials and vexations,
How they throng around our way!
One great cross, immense and heavy,
So it seems to our weak will,
Might be borne with resignation,
But these many small ones kill.
Yet all life is formed of small things,
Little leaves make up the trees,
Many tiny drops of water
Blending, make the mighty seas.
Let us not then by impatience
Mar the beauty of the whole.
But for love of Jesus bear all
In the silence of our soul.
Asking Him for grace sufficient
To sustain us through each loss,
And to treasure each small offering
As a splinter from His Cross.
(Author Unknown)
Little headaches, little heartaches,
Little griefs of every day,
Little trials and vexations,
How they throng around our way!
One great cross, immense and heavy,
So it seems to our weak will,
Might be borne with resignation,
But these many small ones kill.
Yet all life is formed of small things,
Little leaves make up the trees,
Many tiny drops of water
Blending, make the mighty seas.
Let us not then by impatience
Mar the beauty of the whole.
But for love of Jesus bear all
In the silence of our soul.
Asking Him for grace sufficient
To sustain us through each loss,
And to treasure each small offering
As a splinter from His Cross.
(Author Unknown)
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